Saturday, June 8, 2013

Abandoned haunted convent

Last weekend I visited one of the creepiest urbex destinations in Europe: the abandoned haunted conventHet Hoompje in St. Anna ter Muiden in Sluis, Netherlands.

Many have seen ghostly nuns walking through the walls or walking on the nearby highway. EVP recordings have detected clear voices and warnings. Things have gotten worse since witches and Satanists have performed rituals in the cellar. No wonder that the entrance of the cellar is marked with the words: "Welcome to hell!"

I went into the abandoned haunted convent by myself (my fellow travelers didn't dare go in), but no ghosts have tried to seek my company. I personally don't see any ghosts on the photos either, but friends who adore the subject claim there are several ones on these pictures. Can you see them?

If you're interested in visiting Het Hoompje, you have to go to St. Anna ter Muiden, which is part of the municipality Sluis in the Netherlands. The convent is on your right, just before you enter Sluis. Pay close attention because the building is hidden by lush vegetation and only the top of the tower is visible.

Facts : The stories of witchcraft and satanism originated from the time when some squatters installed a drugs lab in the basement of the main building. The ghost stories about the alledged satanists served as a repellant / cover up for the real nasty stuff going on in there. The fabrication of drugs. After the lab got busted, the authorities decided to flood the basement level, so no-one else would ever get any "clever ideas" like that anymore.A couple of years ago, on halloween night, some kids accidentally set the stair case to the 1st floor on fire. Result : the fire dept tore down all stair cases, rendering all the above areas inaccessible. Only the ground floor remains to be visited (although you're not supposed to be there at all).I've been there 3 times. Once during day time, once at dusk and once at night. Pretty creepy place when it's dark. We took loads of pics, shot a lot of video footage, did some measurements and left an EVP recorder running for about an hour in a well hidden spot. Photo's didn't deliver anything out of the ordinary, neither did the video or the lazer thermometer or the EMF meter. The EVP on the other hand, delivered two segments of tapping on the microphone. What it was I don't know. No-one else was there and we were in other areas of the building when it occured.I approach these things as a sceptic. To me it's just a beautiful old building that sadly is falling apart. But I can not explain the tapping on the recorder. ;-)

Quite the fixer-upper and great photos! Thanks for sharing. Didn't see any ghosts. Too bad they let that grand place go to seed. Yes, I have had a couple of ghostly experiences. One was in a B&B in South Carolina. You're going to hardly believe this story because it's straight out of a movie or a novel, but it really did happen this way. It was a dark and stormy night with wind and lightning and rain, and this big old two story square brick home on a corner lot sat not 20 feet from a big old two story square brick home next door. The tall double-hung windows on the other house had no curtains and were cracked enough to let in air, and I could see that all the furniture inside was covered in drop cloths. That told me no one lived there. The tall windows in my room in the B&B were also cracked open, and the wind whipped at my curtains. I laid in the middle of the queen bed in the dark under a slowly swirling ceiling fan suspended from the 20' ceiling and watched the lightning flash and listened to the gods bowl for ten pins. Suddenly, the old glass knob on the door beside my bed began to twist and rattle like someone from the next bedroom was trying to get into my room. I ignored it. Finally, it stopped and I slept well. The next morning, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky and the birds were singing. I got up to take a shower and someone else got up with me from the other side of the bed. I walked to my bathroom and he followed. Finally, I stopped and said, out loud, "okay you leave, right now. Go back to the house next door where you belong." And he did. When I went down for coffee, I told the innkeeper that someone from the next bedroom had been trying to open the door between our rooms. She told me "there isn't another bedroom next to yours. That's a closet, and we always keep it locked."

Vanessa, these photos are absolutely breathtaking. The graffiti creeps me out in this setting - it's like ghosts are writing on the walls, trying to reach out to people. What a beautiful and seemingly forgotten place. I'd love to go one day and see it for myself (in the bright daylight of course!!).

Personally, I think I'd be scared outta my wits to even dare walk into this place. This will sound weird but when I enter a place that is reportedly haunted (whether I know it or not) I have been known to get very creepy, "Get the eff outta here" vibes. I love old, run-down buildings like this and photographing them but when there are creepy feelings going on I make sure to bolt as quickly as possible.

Hi, Vanessa; it's nice to meet you! I'm from the blog hop as well. The photos are a little eerie, but I think they're so cool! Each one seems to have its own history and back story. They're all very artsy, though a few of them do spook me out (particularly the fifth one from the bottom!). Thanks for sharing with us, and I hope you're having a wonderful week!